Remember Me
by summerberries
Summary: AU. Katniss Everdeen, a young fashion designer, is heart-broken when she learns that her best friend from childhood, Gale Hawthorne, is married. One day, she meets a handsome, young baker, Peeta Mellark, but his mother is opposed to the idea of them getting married. Against his mother's will, the two are wed. Not long after they get married, Katniss is diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi everyone! This is my first fanfic! I hope you enjoy ^_^**

**Chapter 1**

"_Katniss…" I hear his voice echo throughout the dark cave._

_I run a few steps before tripping over what I hope is a rock. I can't bear to see any more skulls._

"_Katniss…" this time the voice comes from behind me._

_I turn my head and scream his name, "Gale!" I quickly pick myself up and brush the rubble off my pants. All the color drains from my face when I hear his agonized yell._

"_Gale! Where are you?" I yell desperately, fighting tears._

"_Why did you leave me?" he asks me._

_I swallow hard as I realize that the pain he's feeling is my fault. It's always my fault. "I didn't mean to leave you!" I plead. But there is no response. The cave is utterly silent. It is then that I realize that I have lost him. I am now completely alone._

_Minutes pass by. Then hours. Then days. Finally, I hear his faint voice echo through the cave again._

"_Katniss…"_

_My head perks up at the sound of a human voice._

"_Katniss…"_

_I look around. Where is his voice coming from?_

"_KATNISS!"_

I wake up with a start.

"Gosh Katniss, I've called you like seven times already!" Prim stands in the doorway of my bedroom with her arms folded across her chest.

I wipe the cold sweat from my face and sit up on my bed.

"Dinner's ready!" Prim gives me a disapproving look, but there's also concern in her face.

"Oh, I'll be down in a sec. I got a lot of work to finish. You guys eat without me."

She sighs. "Well ok. Don't stay up too late." She closes the door behind her.

I yawn and stretch my arms before walking over to my desk, which is currently cluttered with hundreds of sketches. Seeing them makes me want to go back to bed, but I force myself into my seat, and pick up my pencil anyways. I do this not for the possibility of a promotion, but for Cinna.

Oh Cinna, my wonderful design professor. If it weren't for him, I don't know where I'd be now. Certainly not this well-employed. Because I was his favorite pupil, he wrote glowing recommendations for me. That's how I landed a position at Thirteen, the country's leading producer of avant-garde clothing. Most of what we make is exported to the Capitol, but it doesn't matter because they're the only ones who can afford our bizarre clothing anyways. Thirteen's prices are outrageous, but I don't complain because it's my paycheck the Capitol citizens are paying for. If it weren't for my generous salary, I'd find a job at some small boutique to design some normal clothes for.

I've been working around the clock since I joined Thirteen two months ago. I'm already starting to burn out, but I keep reminding myself that I have to support my family, at least until Prim is out of medical school. Then, I'll quit for sure.

I finish up my latest sketch, adding intricate lace patterns, as I think about my situation four years ago. A new university student with no idea what to major in. I was thinking about going into the medical field, since my mother is a retired doctor (well, retired meaning she became too depressed to continue her practice after my father died), but I quickly realized how much I loathed memorizing names of obscure body parts that I'd never heard of.

I was sitting in a café near campus one morning, when Cinna first approached me.

"_Hello," a tall, dark-skinned man with nice eyes greets me with a smile. "May I sit here?"_

_I look around the café. It's absolutely packed, and the seat in front of me is the only one available. I nod, and quickly resume eating my bland oatmeal. We sit in silence for a few minutes, as he sips his coffee and sifts through a fashion magazine. I try to inhale my breakfast as fast as I can, so that I can go study for my exam on the gazillion different facts there are to remember about the human brain._

_Suddenly, he looks at me curiously and asks, "Say, where'd you get that?"_

"_What?" I look up from my bowl of mush and see him pointing at my chest. I look down to find the object in question. "Oh, my mockingjay pin? A friend gave it to me."_

_He flips a few pages back in his magazine. He stops at a page, and lifts it up to show me what he is looking at. I scan the page until I see my mockingjay pin in the corner._

"_Your friend must be a real rebel," the man says with a smile._

_I give him a clueless look._

"_In the Capitol, clothing and accessories depicting mockingjays are banned," he informs me._

"_Why?"_

_He shrugs his shoulders, "The Capitol makes crazy rules all the time." He lowers his voice and leans in closer to me, "After all, they can do whatever they want."_

_I grin. It's the first treasonous statement I hear on campus, albeit a rather slight one. I decide that I like him immediately._

_We talk for a couple of hours. I find out that his name is Cinna, and he is a part-time design professor. He is a senior stylist at Thirteen, although he lives in the Capitol. He works from his studio, and visits District 13 every Friday afternoon to check in with his superiors. He specializes in military clothing, not something you'd expect to be stylish. His job is to think of ways to make the military uniforms more practical year after year. He tells me story after story about his great successes as well as his biggest blunders. I feel my jaw drop slightly when he tells me about an outfit he designed that starts a real fire when you spin in a circle._

_When he asks me what I'm majoring in, I think about it for a while. I am sure I want to do whatever this man does. I reply with a grin, "Design."_

Ever since then, Cinna has personally mentored me and, like I said earlier, helped me land a job at his lucrative company. At first I was anxious to get to finally put what I had learned to use, until I realized that I would be designing frilly foo-foo dresses, instead of working with Cinna to design outfits that are actually useful!

I outline a section of the dress I'm working on over and over again until it's noticeably darker than the rest of the drawing. I already know that President Coin, the CEO of Thirteen, will not be impressed with my sketch. I scrunch up the piece of paper that I'd spent hours on and toss it into the waste basket that is already full of previously rejected sketches.

I rest my head on the table for a minute before deciding to open my laptop to browse for some inspiration. While I wait for my homepage to load, I examine the split ends of my braid. I haven't had any time to think about my general appearance lately. I should probably go get a trim soon…

As soon as I glance up at my homepage, _The Capitol Gazette_, I see the headline "Hawthorne's Eldest Son Caught Poaching." Below the bold title is a picture of Gale being handcuffed by a police officer. I gasp in horror and quickly hit the hotkey that brings up a new, blank tab.

Still in shock, I decide to go downstairs to grab a bite. Settle the nerves, hopefully. I go to the dining room and find that my mother and Prim have saved me some goat cheese and squirrel meat, which is not caught by me because I haven't gone hunting in four years…which I guess is lucky for me…I stop myself before I start wondering how they will punish Gale. I try to savor the food, but the squirrel seems exceptionally hard to swallow today. I find some cold mint tea left in the kettle, and gulp it down to get rid of the bits of meat that are stuck in my throat.

When I return to my laptop, I half-heartedly browse around a fashion website. I try to focus on thinking of something acceptable to present to Coin (I really do!), but my mind keeps wandering back to that day. I thought he'd be happy for me. He _was_ happy for me when I told him that I planned to go to university! It was just the part about my university being in the Capitol that he didn't quite like…

"_Why would you ever want to go to school there?" he asked, somewhat angrily._

"_It's a good school!"_

"_There are lots of good schools here in District 12!"_

_I shake my head. "It's not the same! Gale, you know that those who graduate from the Capitol's university make a lot more than those that graduate from a district university!"_

"_Who's going to pay for it?"_

"_I got a scholarship."_

"_Full-ride?"_

"_Yes," I lie without thinking. The school actually promised to cover three-fourths of my expenses. I figure I can get a part-time job to pay for the rest._

"_You're such a bad liar." The corners of his mouth turn upward slightly, but they resume their previous position as he continues to interrogate me. "How are you going to feed your family?"_

"_I signed my family up for food stamps for the next four years, and made Mom sign up to work as a part-time nurse at the hospital. They should have more than enough funds to take care of themselves."_

_He pauses. Holding my gaze, he asks without flinching, "What about me?"_

_The question takes me by surprise. My brows furrow in confusion. "…What?"_

"_You're just going to leave me?" I can detect a slight trace of hurt in his voice._

"_Gale!" I shout, and grab his shoulders. "Think about it! In four years, I'll be able to get a real job! No more of this illegal hunting business! I'll finally be able to provide for my family without putting our lives in danger!" All I want is for him to understand the necessity of my decision._

_He doesn't._

_He lays one of his hands on mine, which is still on his shoulder. He gives me a long, final look. "See you around, Catnip." Then he shakes his head and turns around. I don't try to call out to him or grab him because I know it's no use._

I haven't heard a word from Gale or his family since I've been back, and we didn't communicate at all while I was studying in the Capitol. He has this notion that the Capitol reads everyone's letters before delivering them to the correct recipient. Surely they wouldn't do that…would they? But it's not like we have anything to hide (aside from our illegal hunting, but I'm sure Gale would be more careful than to mention it in a letter). Gale just never wrote to me because he was still mad at me for "leaving him." What did he even mean by that? We weren't romantically connected…or at least, not officially. He's asked me out a few times before, but I've always brushed him off and insisted on keeping things casual.

I'm only snapped back into reality when my computer make's a _ping!_ noise, indicating a new email. I debate whether or not I should open it. No doubt it's an email from dragon-lady Coin or one of her henchmen telling me to hurry up with my sketch. Or perhaps it's another new task entirely. Wouldn't that be nice? It's not like I already have another twenty-something other crazy costumes waiting to be designed after I'm done with my current hopeless endeavor.

I roll my eyes as I hear President Coin's voice nagging me about how she can't believe how hideous the collar on my last design was, or why I'd even dream of pairing striped leggings with plaid shorts ("I mean really, stripes and plaid? Please.") , or best of all, how in the world I can be Cinna's star pupil and how she doesn't see a shred of design talent in me.

_Ok, maybe I'm not the best designer when it comes to Capitol fashion, but maybe if you'd just put me in Cinna's department and let me do work that I actually think is useful…_I cuss out President Coin in my head. She may be one of the most powerful and influential people in the Capitol, but she sure sucks at managing her staff.

I slam my laptop shut and jump into my bed. President Coin can wait until next week for my design to be ready for all I care. I dose off, snickering at how infuriated Coin would be if I went into work tomorrow and told her that I had misplaced all of my projects. I imagine her cheeks would turn bright red, something I've never seen happen before, of course. I relish the thought of Coin losing her composure in front of the whole office. It'll probably never happen in a million years, but who cares. One can dream, can't she? _Maybe she'd fire me,_ I think happily. Oh, how I long for Prim to hurry up and finish medical school, so that I can pull a fantastic prank on the President before she terminates my employment. That would be the ideal way to end my pitiful career of grunt work.

"_Katniss…" I hear Gale's voice again in the distance. Where is he?_

"_Katniss…" Is he in jail for poaching? What are they doing to him?_

"_Why did you leave me?" He's been asking me this almost every night since I got back from the Capitol._

"_I didn't leave you, Gale! I mean…I didn't mean to…" I try to explain to him every time he asks me._

"KATNISS!" Prim is standing over my bed in her District 12 university uniform with the same worried look she gives me every morning.

"Morning Prim," I mumble drowsily as I rub the sleep out of my eyes.

"Katniss, you sleep through your alarm every day. We're going to need to get you a louder clock," she says, half joking.

"Sorry Prim, it's all the work I've been getting lately. I can't seem to get a decent night's sleep."

"Yeah well, you better hurry, because you're going to be late!" she says over her shoulder as she walks out of my room.

I groan as I rummage through my drawers for a white blouse and black slacks. I'm about to go downstairs to grab breakfast before I remember that I have an unread email. It's not wise to go to work without reading an email sent by the President, no matter how much I want to get fired.

I quickly open my inbox and click on the unread message. Before I even click on the message, I know something is wrong because the person who sent it was not President Coin—it's from the District 12 Police Department. My heart skips a beat when the message loads.

_Dear Katniss Everdeen,_

_Gale Hawthorne, who was arrested yesterday for poaching, has requested to speak with you. We have allotted a 15-minute time slot for you to come visit him. If you are interested, please show up promptly at the District 12 Police Station at 3:00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon._

_Sincerely,_

_The District 12 Police Department_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

I look down at the blank page in front of me. I look up at the clock. How have I not gotten a single thing done yet?

"Impressive work Katniss."

I quickly grab the blank sheet of paper in front of me and spin around in my chair. I relax when I see that it's only Octavia. Octavia is one of the few friends at Thirteen that I trust. When I first started working at Thirteen, Octavia gave me advice on how to blend in. She was like my personal stylist.

We also both happen to hate Coin. Once, at a morning meeting, Octavia took an extra slice of bread from the assortment of treats that the company provided for us, and Coin—being the tactful person that she is—made a joke about Octavia's lack of control in front of our entire office. Since then, Octavia has never hesitated to defend me against Coin's bullying (the President is used to taking advantage of the new slaves that join her labor force). That's one thing I love about Octavia—I know I can depend on her.

"I've been playing around with the idea of invisible clothing," I joke. "What do you think? Too much?"

She laughs. "I'm sure Coin will be delighted with your ingenuity."

I sigh at the mention of the President's name. I had promised her I'd have this design done by two o'clock. I glance up at the clock again—1:30.

Octavia sees me look at the clock. She frowns. "What's the matter?"

"I need to get this done in half an hour."

"Half an hour? Why do you need to have it done by two o'clock?"

We usually get off work at six.

"I…have to be somewhere."

She raises her eyebrows. "How are you going to tell Coin that you need to leave early?"

"I…haven't figured that part out yet…" I say sheepishly.

I was planning on just leaving and then coming back, but the train ride to Distrct 12 takes almost an hour, so I'd have to make up some excuse as to why I was gone for so long. And no, taking a "long lunch break" will not work, as I have discovered in the past.

Octavia gives me a sympathetic look. She looks around the office first and says quietly, "I can cover for you if you want."

"Oh no…you don't have to…"

Octavia grabs the blank sheet off my desk. "I can bust out a killer sleeveless dress in twenty minutes."

"The client requested a dress with sleeves."

"I can do invisible sleeves," she says with a wicked smile.

I bite my bottom lip as I try to suppress a smile of my own. "What will you tell Coin when she realizes I'm gone?"

"I'll tell her you're running an errand for me."

I spring off of my chair and hug her, "Thanks Octavia!"

She wraps her arms around me lightly, barely touching me. "Careful, this is a new dress. Made of tissue paper. It's all the rage in the Capitol right now."

I pull away cautiously, scared that I might rip her dress off of her body. All the rage? I wonder what happens when it rains in the Capitol.

-x-

_Tap. Tap. Tap._ I tap my foot uncontrollably on the floor of the District 12 Police Department as I wait for someone to escort me to see Gale. I look up at the clock—2:58. Two more minutes. What am I going to say to him? I run through a few possible greetings in my head, but I find flaws in all of the ones that I try.

_Hey Gale. Long time no see. _No, that would emphasize the fact that I left him for four years.

_Gale, what happened to you? _Do I really want to make him re-live what was probably the worst thing that has happened to him and his family?

_Hey Gale. How've you been? _Well, he's obviously been having a splendid time in jail.

_Funny seeing you here._ No.

"Katniss Everdeen?"

I instinctively rise to my feet.

A policeman wearing a pressed uniform waves his arm, signaling me to follow him. I nod and comply.

We walk down a long, dark hallway before he turns to face the wall. I do the same, but I'm not sure what we're supposed to be looking at. Suddenly, a section of the wall is lifted up, and my eyes widen when I see him standing in front of me.

"Gale," I whisper to the man behind bars.

"Hey Catnip—I mean—Katniss." His hands are in the pockets of the bright orange pants they make cellmates wear.

I'm slightly hurt as I realize things aren't as they used to be.

"You have fifteen minutes," the police officer informs us without emotion. He does not leave like I somehow thought he would.

Gale talks quickly and professionally, "There's something I need to discuss with you."

"Sure. What is it?"

"Uh…how have you been?" he says awkwardly.

"I've been…fine…?" There's an uncomfortable pause. "How have you been?" I want to slap myself because this was specifically one of the greetings that I told myself not to use.

"I've been…" he glances around his jail cell, "fine." He smiles at me, and I can't help but crack a smile back at him. This is the Gale that I miss…my best friend.

"How long they gotcha in here for?"

"Only a few days. I was originally supposed to stay in here for a month, but Darius somehow talked Thread out of it."

Darius is a police officer who happens to be friends with Gale and me. Well, at least _I'm_ friends with him. I don't know how Gale feels about that one time Darius tried to flirt with me.

"Thread?" I ask about the name I don't recognize.

"Oh yeah, we got a new head officer last year. Things are much stricter now in Twelve…as you can see." Gale glances over at the officer who's watching us, hoping that his statement would not be considered treason. The officer doesn't seem to be bothered. "So, how was university in the Capitol?"

"It wasn't bad…it wasn't much different from high school. Papers, projects, professors—Cinna! Oh Cinna! I have to tell you about him!" My face lights up as I remember my mentor.

"Cinna?"

"Yes, Cinna. He was the most amazing design professor! You'd love to look at his military clothes."

Gale gives a chuckle, "Oh, for a second there I thought Cinna was your new boyfriend."

"Oh…nope. Just a professor."

"Have you…been seeing anyone…?"

The casual tone of our conversation starts fading away.

"No…have you…?"

"Uhh."

He has.

There's a pause that I swear is a minute long.

"Madge…" he manages to say.

My jaw drops a little before I can stop it. Madge is perhaps the last name I had expected to hear. I considered Madge to be my best female friend before I left for university. But Gale never appeared to be too fond of her. I specifically remember him describing her as a privileged girl who didn't understand what life for those from the Seam (the poorer area of District 12) was like.

"Madge?" I say a little bit too loudly.

"I know…I never thought I'd like her either. But I got into a hunting accident last year, and when she heard about it from your mother, she visited me a lot and brought me expensive medicine that your mother didn't have. We started talking and I realized that she isn't that bad…not stuck up at all…and you know, with you being gone and all," he pauses and rubs the back of his neck, "I don't know, it's been lonely, I guess."

I try to soak all of this in. Madge went out of her way to bring medicine for Gale? Has she always had feelings for him? I don't really remember her ever mentioning him in our conversations.

"So…how long have you guys been going out?" I ask, trying to sound indifferent.

"Uhh…"

"You have two minutes left," the officer interrupts. I almost forgot he was standing there.

_Gale must be really uncomfortable, _I think, because he's rubbing both of his palms on his pant legs. That's when I notice it.

"Well I…" Gale starts, but trails off. Another excruciatingly long pause as he searches for the right words.

He doesn't need to search though, because I finish his sentence as I look at the ring on his finger.

"You're married."

"One more minute," the officer warns.

My jaw tightens.

"No need," I say icily.

I give Gale one last look. I can see the regret in his eyes.

I turn around and start walking toward the door. I hear him calling my name, but I will myself not to look back. I know he's sorry, but we were supposed to be best friends. If I had dated someone while I was in university, I would've called him right away. And I would never dream of marrying his best guy friend without asking him how he felt about it first.

When I'm finally outside of the police department, I stand still and take a few deep breaths. The sky is gloomy, and a slight breeze penetrates the thick air. When did it get so chilly?

-x-

A sweet, four-note tune wakes me up from the daze I'm in. I grab my cell phone from my purse. It's Prim.

"Hello?"

"Katniss! Where are you?"

I look at my surroundings. I honestly don't know where I've wandered off to. All I remember is staring at the ground and watching my feet take me wherever they wanted. I see a bookstore and a clothing shop. I can't find any street signs.

"I'm somewhere in the merchant's section."

"What are you doing there? Are you coming home for dinner?"

I hear the worry in Prim's voice. The last thing I want is for my sister and mother to know about my conversation with Gale today.

"Oh, I'm just picking up a book for Octavia. Sorry, I stayed late at the office today. Forgot to call. Don't worry, I'll grab something to eat on the way back," I try to say in a brighter voice.

"Well…ok. Don't come home too late."

"Sure. See you at home!"

"Bye."

When I hang up, I realize that I'm starving. A delectable aroma drifts toward me. I follow the scent, walking a little further up the street and turning the corner to find a bakery. I remember my mother mentioning that she knew the bakery's owner when she was a child. She told me that the owner was a very kind person.

I walk in.

"Are you still open?" I ask tentatively. I have no idea what time it is.

A lady at the counter scowls at me. "We're about to close. Make it quick."

I'm pretty sure that the "kind owner" my mother was referring to is her husband. Definitely not her.

I grab a small loaf of bread with nuts in it.

"That'll be three dollars," she says.

I set the loaf on the counter as I dig around my purse for my wallet. I drop three one-dollar coins in front of her.

"Thanks," she mutters as she picks up the change.

I walk out the door quickly, eager to get away from her.

Once I'm a fair distance away from the shop, my mind falls back to thinking about Gale, about how he's married, about how he's a horrible friend, about how he's a jerk for not telling me, about…

"Wait," I say to myself as I come to a halt. _Where's my bread?_ I pause for a second. _I left it on the counter…_

I spin around and start walking briskly toward the bakery, irritated at the thought of seeing that witch again. I'm just about to turn the corner when I bump into a man who appears to be around my age, making him drop what he was carrying. It lands on the ground, and the cloth that was wrapped around the object comes loose.

"Sorry," I say as I reach down to pick up the bundle. _Oh, he just came from the bakery_, I think as I see that what was wrapped in the cloth is a loaf of bread.

My eyes narrow when I see the nuts in the loaf. I wrap it neatly back in the cloth and hold it close to my chest.

"I believe this is mine," I tell him bluntly.

"What? No, I'm making a delivery…"

I can't stand people who try to steal food from others. He probably walked into the bakery and noticed the loaf of bread on the counter.

I open the cloth and take a large bite out of the loaf to establish my rightful property. I glare at him as I chew. He holds my gaze. I immediately notice his blue eyes. No one from the Seam has blue eyes. A merchant boy. _A handsome one, too, _I think regretfully. I try not to associate myself with people from the merchant section of District 12. Most of them are rich and think that people from the Seam are garbage.

He looks genuinely confused. I almost feel bad for him until I remember that he tried to steal my bread and then _lied_ to try to get away with it. I take another large, exaggerated bite before I turn around and make my way back home.

The merchant boy doesn't try to stop me. He just watches me with his blue eyes.

_**To Be Continued…**_


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry this chapter is late! Wanted to start getting a little more into Peeta and Katniss' developing relationship in this chapter! I hope you enjoy! ^^**

**(Also, I wanted to give a special thank-you to MaidenAlice for being my faithful reviewer! I really appreciate input from my readers!)**

**Chapter 3**

"Happy birthday little duck!" I say as I kiss Prim on the forehead.

She giggles, just like she does every year when I give her a birthday kiss. Now that I have a real job at Thirteen, we can afford a real banquet for her birthday, not just a small basket of fruit, cheese, meat, and bread. This year, laid out on the table before us, there is a spit-roasted boar, grilled beaver's tail, and boiled whale meat. There is also a large assortment of vegetables and spiced fruit.

Prim carefully opens her presents. She receives a pendant from Mom, one that belonged to our grandmother. My present to Prim is a diary. As a former medical student, I know how stressed and frustrated Prim must feel at times. I figured a diary would provide a good escape for her. She beams at us.

"Thank you for the gifts. They're wonderful," Prim says.

She's still grinning as we all dig into the food. The conversations at the table are upbeat. Even Mom seems to be enjoying herself, something that isn't too common after Dad died.

Halfway into the food, we are all stuffed. Prim is sitting in her chair, holding her belly. I'm forcing myself to take more tiny bites of food because I don't want to waste a single bit of the feast. I remember all too clearly the sensation of starving back when we weren't as well off.

"Still going, Katniss?" Mom asks.

"Almost done," I reply as I nibble on a beaver tail.

"You might want to save some space in that stomach of yours," Mom says.

I set the beaver tail down.

"There's more?" I ask. How could Mom have possibly prepared any more food?

She smiles and goes into the kitchen to grab something. Prim and I just look at each other, both unable to guess what will come through the kitchen door with Mom.

When Mom finally emerges from the kitchen, Prim's eyes widen and focus on the beautifully-decorated cake in Mom's hands. I, too, can't take my eyes away from the perfectly-frosted pastry.

As Mom sets the cake on the table, she lights a single pink candle on top of it and kisses Prim's head.

"Make a wish," Mom tells Prim as she turns off the lights.

Prim smiles sweetly as she closes her eyes and thinks for a minute. We all hold our breath for this special moment. This is the first time we've ever had a cake at one of our birthday celebrations.

After Prim blows out her candles, Mom pulls out a bread knife and starts cutting into the cake.

"Where did you get the cake, Mom?" I ask.

"I got it from the Mellarks' bakery. I thought it'd be an appropriate addition to our usual festivities," Mom says with a smile.

For a moment, I wish that I could push the pause button on time. Mom is smiling, Prim is speechless with joy. I feel something I haven't felt in a long time. Family togetherness. I take in the sight of gentle swirls and plump dots of frosting. I close my eyes. I savor the moment before allowing myself to indulge my taste buds.

-x-

Cheese, vegetables, squirrel meat…what am I missing? Mom told me to make a list so I wouldn't forget, but I was in a rush this morning. If I didn't get to the office on time, Coin would slay me alive for being tardy for the fifth time this week (yes, I have been late every day of this week so far). Bread! That's the last thing I was supposed to pick up for Mom.

It should only be a block away from the butchery. I thank the butcher for the fine squirrel and walk out the door to find a beautiful blue sky. I inhale the sweet scent of evergreens. After I finished my design degree and became a Thirteen employee, I haven't had much time to enjoy nature.

Another fragrant aroma catches the attention of my nose, only this one is a little different, definitely not produced by nature. Ah, I'm here at the bakery. I'm about to open the door when I notice someone working on one of the cakes in the display window. I stand there, my face only a few inches from the glass, watching the man on the stool turning the cake in one hand while piping intricate designs with his other. I'm transfixed by his concentration.

He's in the middle of piping a pink blossom when he notices the eyes that watch him. He looks up at me, and at first I raise my eyebrows in surprise. It's the man that I ran into the other night! The man who stole my bread. But…if he works here then…he really _was _making a delivery!

He smiles at me. I blush, partly because I'm embarrassed when I realize that I made a horrible mistake, and partly because…I don't know. He gets up from the stool and pushes open the front door.

"You forgot something last time," he says as he stands in the doorway. When I don't respond, he smiles again. "Well, did you come here to buy something, or were you just here to watch me make cakes?"

"Bread," I manage to say.

"Ah, we have some of that," he says as he takes my hand and leads me in.

I'm astonished. How he can be so kind to someone who was so blatantly rude to him is beyond me.

He plops back onto his stool as he finishes piping the last flower on his cake. "So, what kind of bread did you want? White bread, wheat bread, bread with nuts, cheesy bread? We just baked a fresh batch of garlic bread."

I wrinkle my nose. "Not garlic bread."

"Oh, I see. Gotta keep that pretty mouth of yours smelling nice for your boyfriend," he says, grinning while still keeping his eyes fixated on the cake in front of him.

"Heh, no boyfriend. Just don't like garlic much. Never have."

He gives the cake one final twirl to examine his finished product. Spot on. Then he gives me a serious, long look with those blue eyes of his. "No boyfriend, eh? What's a woman like you doing without a boyfriend?"

I try to force myself not to blush, but I feel my face getting hot. No one has ever so openly suggested that I was good-looking. Not even Gale, whom I know had a slight attraction to me for a while.

"Uhh…well I…" I stammer as I try to answer his question. _Wait, it was a rhetorical question. I'm not supposed to answer it._ "Cheese!" I blurt out.

"What?"

"I want cheese bread."

"Oh…" he walks across the room to fulfill my request. "What's your name, anyway?"

"Katniss."

"Nice to meet you Katniss. Peeta," he says as he hands me my bread.

"Pita…like the bread?"

He grins at me. "I guess that's what my mom was thinking when she named me. I'm worth as much as pita bread to her."

I laugh as I pull out my wallet to pay him. As I hand him the coins, I notice the pinkish welt on his right cheek.

When he sees me staring at it, he puts his hand over it and says, "Oh this is nothing. My brothers and I get burned all the time working here. I'm just clumsy, I guess."

He gives me a reassuring smile, but I'm not convinced. I know a mark from someone being beaten when I see one. I used to know lots of kids from the Seam who were bullied at school. When they got hit, the marks on their bodies looked exactly like the spot on Peeta's face.

The bell jingles as the front door opens. We both turn to see that nasty woman who sold me the bread last time I was here. She doesn't seem too pleased to see me either.

"Mom," Peeta addresses the woman.

"Did you finish the two cakes yet?" she scowls at him.

"Almost. I just finished one of them…"

"Only one?! What have you been doing while I was gone?" she snaps at him. Then she looks at me and narrows her eyes. "Quit dilly dallying, and finish that cake!"

Peeta's jaw tightens, and he hands me my change. Without a word, he goes into the kitchen in the back of the store to grab a fresh, unfrosted cake, and walks back to his stool. He starts frosting it just like he frosted the first cake, but this time with light blue frosting.

I start walking out the door when Peeta's mom grabs my sleeve.

"Well if it isn't Miss Forgetful. Because of you, my son had to come back and grab _your_ bread for delivery, making him late," she hisses at me.

"Mom, it's not her fault," Peeta jumps to my defense.

"Oh, of course it's not. It's _yours_! Letting a girl take bread from you. We'd be broke if I let you do all of our deliveries."

"I _do _handle all the deliveries…" he mutters under his breath.

She narrows her eyes at him. "You ungrateful child…"

She turns her head and snaps at me, "What are you still doing here?"

I take my cue and book it out of the bakery. It's not until I'm well on my way home that I realize Peeta's going to have another "burn" on his face the next time I see him.

-x-

"Are you ok?"

"Hm?" I straighten up when I realize I've been caught daydreaming on the job.

"I said—are you ok?" Octavia repeats with a concerned look on her face.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," I say as I pretend to shuffle through some paperwork.

"Mhm, sure," Octavia says as she crosses her arms.

I look at the clock and notice it's time to leave. I stuff my sketches into my purse and start walking toward the elevator. Octavia catches up to me.

"Spill," Octavia says in the elevator.

I'm hesitant at first, because honestly, _I_ don't even know how to articulate what I'm feeling.

"I just can't stop thinking about something…or…someone…" I admit finally.

Octavia's face lights up and she gasps. "Oh my. Katniss! You've got yourself a man?"

"He's not _my_ man! Just…_a_ man…guy…"

Octavia chuckles at my uneasiness. "Is he tall? Handsome?"

I start telling her about the encounter I had with Peeta at the bakery and our previous encounter in which I mistook him for a thief. I told her about his sense of humor, his kind nature, and his smile…_oh, his smile._

We're busy chattering away when I feel the buckle on my purse strap come loose.

"My purse!"

Octavia and I whirl around to see a man wearing a black ski mask running off with my purse. I start chasing him, with Octavia trailing far behind me. As quick as I am, I can't run nearly as fast while wearing heels.

"Stop!" I scream as I reach for my cell phone in my purse. Oh right, nevermind.

I stop to catch my breath as the thief gets smaller and smaller as the distance between us increases. I'm not as fit as I used to be since I stopped hunting.

Suddenly, the thief is on the floor. A man picks the thief up by the front of his shirt and grabs my purse from him. He puts the man back down carefully, and the thief runs for his life, even though the man who salvaged my purse did not hurt him in any way. The man with my purse turns to face me, and I immediately recognize him. Even from a distance, those eyes unmistakably belong to…

"Peeta!" I yell.

I wait for him to make his way toward me. Unlike our previous two encounters, he's not wearing his usual baker's outfit. I hadn't noticed how broad-shouldered he was when he was in his loose, white baker's uniform.

"Are you ok?" he asks as he hands me my purse.

I grab it by the strap because I forget that it's broken. My wallet, my sketches, and an ocean of pens comes spilling out of my purse. We both bend down to collect the contents.

He chuckles, "You collect pens or something?"

I blush. I didn't realize I had so many in my purse. I lose them all the time.

When all my possessions are back where they belong, Peeta takes a good look at my purse strap.

"I have a friend who can fix this for you for free," he offers.

"Oh, don't worry about it. My mom's pretty good at stitching things up."

My brow furrows when I see the newest wound on his face. In addition to the two welts on his face that are starting to fade, there's a fresh cut across his jaw. I instinctively trace the red line on his jaw with my finger, like I do to Prim when she gets a cut. He winces slightly and catches my hand.

"She's good at stitching these up, too," I say softly.

**To Be Continued…**


End file.
